Changeling - Players Guide.pdf

Totem
You see, I am alive, I am alive
I stand in good relation to the earth
I stand in good relation to the gods
I stand in good relation to all that is beautiful
1 stand in good relation to the daughter of Tsen-tainte
You see, 1 am alive, 1 am alive
—N. Scott Momaday, "The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee"
To the Nunnehi, the spiritual and the ordinary are one and
the same. Each Jay is a miniature cycle in which they interact
with the commonplace and the supernatural, emhodied in the
same beings. To them, a tree is not just a tall plant that has
several practical uses, hut a living spirit placed here to live in
harmony with all the other spirits of the Earth: rocks, plants,
animals, wind, rain, sun and water. Mankind and Nunnehi are
also spirits who must find their place among the rest, maintaining
a proper halance between the physical and the spiritual and
all their spirit brethren so that all life moves in harmony.
Although Nunnehi are gifted with the Medicine to speak
to many of those spirits and thus learn how best to honor or
placate them, it is not always possible for the individual to see
the long-term consequences of actions, master certain skills or
grasp difficult concepts without a wise and patient teacher.
Totems fulfill that role. Furthermore, many such spirits are
believed to be capable of curing illness, making people and
crops fertile, summoning rain and teaching their chosen students
songs of power. Gaining such a powerful being as an ally
is an important part of a Nunnehi's life.
All spirits prefer to be treated respectfully, and totem spirits
insist upon it. From the totem's point of view, the Nunnehi has
petitioned the totem to take the changeling under its wing and
teach her proper ways. Therefore, the Nunnehi should treat her
totem with the deference and respect given to elders and
teachers. Totem spirits are powerful entities, not minor spirits,
and their goodwill can mean the difference between success and
failure. The totem spirit usually requires that its adopted child
either perform certain duties or refrain from certain behaviors in
order to please it. Many totems also expect periodic gifts that will
be pleasing to it, such as tobacco burned in its honor or a small
willow wreath floated on its waters. So long as the Nunnehi
adheres to the expected path required by the totem spirit, she
will receive the special gifts bestowed upon her by her association
with the totem and the spirit's guidance and favor.
Should the Nunnehi fail to conform to the totem spirit's
wishes, however, she offends her mentor and falls out of favor
with her totem spirit. When this happens, she is given one
warning — usually symbolically — that her behavior is
offensive. If she persists in acting in the manner that annoys
her totem, all benefits of having a totem spirit disappear. This
does not mean that the Nunnehi should be punished every
time she performs some minor action that the totem doesn't
personally approve. It does mean that major infractions or
truly obnoxious behavior that goes against everything the
totem usually stands for call for action on the totem's part.
If the Nunnehi wants to repair the damage to the
relationship, she must cease forever the behavior that
prompted the estrangement, and approach her totem again as
if for the first time. The Nunnehi must spend at least a month
purifying herself and making numerous gifts to the offended
spirit. At the end of that time, she again follows the steps
outlined below for gaining a totem. If her gifts have been
freely given and offered with true regret for the distance that
has grown between them, and the Nunnehi has actually
changed her ways, the totem spirit will accept her back and
restore the benefits which were lost in the separation.
Such a restoration is possible only once, however, and if the
Nunnehi offends her totem again, the relationship is severed
forever. While it is theoretically possible for a Nunnehi to find
another totem willing to accept her, in practice, asking a new
spirit to offend another totem in such a manner calls for the
Nunnehi character to spend experience points to re-buy the
Totem Background at a cost of five experience points per dot.
Those who lose their totems are called "the ones who walk alone."
Each Nunnehi has a spiritual connection with a totem
spirit. Their close ties to nature have granted them the ability
to contact the totems of plants (including trees), rocks, and
bodies of water. Typical Nunnehi totems are detailed in the
section under Spirits. Simply because the connection is
there, however, does not mean that every Nunnehi takes
advantage of it. Some choose not to ally themselves with
totem spirits, and thus do not have to consider the feelings
and wishes of a spirit when deciding on a course of action or
performing certain tasks. Such Nunnehi are counted among
"those who walk alone," and are greatly pitied by Nunnehi
with totem allies. Those Nunnehi who have no totem spirit
are unable to enter the spirit world except if brought there by
other Nunnehi who do have such connections.
Contacting a totem spirit marks the "coming-of-age" of a
Nunnehi. By the time a Nunnehi has awakened to her faerie
nature, she has usually received some indication of the identity
of her totem — either through a dream or vision quest or by
frequent contact with physical manifestations of the totem.
For example, as a nanehi youngling, Crooked Feather
became lost in the forest during a thunderstorm. When
hunters from her tribe found her, Crooked Feather was
sleeping peacefully beneath the shelter of a stand of white
birch trees. Later, she dreamed of a handsome brave clad in
clothes made from birch bark. These occurrences seemed to
indicate to Crooked Feather and to the elders of her tribe that
she had an affinity with the Birch Tree totem. Upon becoming
a brave, Crooked Feather would contact her totem spirit
and might change her name to Shining Birch.
System: A Nunnehi preparing to contact her totem spirit
for the first time must prepare herself through participating in a
tribal ritual such as "going to water" (total immersion in a stream
or pond of pure water) or visiting a sweat lodge. Once she has